Ogaga Ifowodo’s poetry wins the Nigeria Prize for Literature
Why Does God Need a Gun? receives the $100,000 award with a collection confronting violence.
Poetry brings the consequences of violence to the centre of Nigeria’s literary conversation. Ogaga Ifowodo has won the 2026 Nigeria Prize for Literature for Why Does God Need a Gun?, published by Masobe Books. The $100,000 award was announced in Lagos on 9 October; literary magazine Brittle Paper reported the result on 12 October, with confirmation from PUNCH. The collection was selected from 223 entries. The jury highlighted its approach to religious and political violence through an imagined victim’s voice. A lawyer, poet and activist, Ifowodo makes poetry an invitation to pay attention to the present. This poetry edition of the award also offers readers an opportunity to discover a distinctive voice in contemporary African literature.